At a nice dinner at Watt’s Grocery, the hot new place in town. My food was OK, but my folks liked it a lot.
In case you haven’t noticed, Grandma and Grandpa monkey are making a lot of appearances these days. That’s because my brother and his wife juts had another baby, so my folks are back in NC for a couple of months. Maybe I’ll let one of them guest blog…
2002 Catherine et Pierre Breton Bourgueil Clos Sénéchal
This is showing spectacularly. High toned, floral, blue fruited, with that chalky minerality I love about this site. A few, more Earthy notes are sneaking in here and there. Under 12% ABV. This is starting to really come in to its own. Not sure if it has the structure for the long term, but it is certainly finely balanced, and sometimes that is more important and can result in wines that age more gracefully than expected. Another in a long line of excellent Sénéchal.
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8 comments:
I have two bottles deep in storage. Should I hold? DL says it will last 35 years. And you say no long term? I am confused.
Well to be clear, it may be a 35 year wine, but I don't think so. Keep in mind that I also probably like all my wines a bit younger than DL does. I like it right when the balance comes together and the aggression of youth has given in and there are still tannins and fruit to go with developing flavors.
A fairly recent 1997 was pretty spectacular and right on for my palate. I'd say 15-20 more for the 2002, but it should be at peak in the 3-5 and hold there for a while, IMO.
I have at least another 8 bottles left, so I can afford to be a bit more cavalier about it.
Well be cavalier with me when you come to NYC cuz I don't want to crack one of my babies.
I've got a few of these left and have no clue how long they'll go. I last tried it a year and half or so ago and it was pretty close to perfect. Seemed like a distance runner to me, just coming into focus then.
So, VLM, I assume most of the good but not real long-term 2002 Beaujolais (Tête, Coudert regular...) are right where you like them right now?
Sorry Lyle, you're gonna have to come down to NC. Can't travel with wine in this day and age. I'm sure Dougherty has some though.
Cliff-
I think that is a fairly good analogy. It is a very lithe wine that may live a long time on balance alone. It doesn't have the deep structure to suggest a super long life, but balance is key to most things.
As I drink my 2002s, the only one I think needs more age is the Desvignes, the rest are ready and may have been better a year ago.
You've got to be jumping the gun on the Coudert Tardive. I had the 02 last summer and it wasn't nearly ready. Over the winter, Chambers had some older ones and the 1998 (I think it was) was fantastic.
I need to get moving on the few others I have. I didn't see the virtue in aging the stuff until pretty recently.
I don't have 2002 Tardive and I think my 2002 regular are exactly where I want them to be.
If you had the 1999, that is still young, IMO.
Agreed the 1999 is too young on the Tardive. Have one bottle left.
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